This invention relates generally to devices facilitating visual location of persons or objects under conditions of low ambient light and more particularly concerns illuminated devices to be attached to or carried by such objects and persons.
A wide variety of illuminated devices usable to visually indicate the presence of persons or objects in low ambient light conditions have been designed for specific purposes ranging over a wide variety of applications. For example, strings of lights entwined in bicycle spokes and connected to a remote power source such as a battery pack mounted under the bicycle seat have been used for bicycle identification. Other flexible devices have been designed for use with or incorporation into various items of wearing apparel for identification of walkers and joggers and generally include a power source to be stored in a pocket provided in the apparel. Such strings of lights or pliable materials, while useful to the particular applications for which they are intended, in other applications become clumsy or cumbersome. Rigidly arranged light displays have also been designed which to some extent eliminate the difficulties of their flexible counterparts, but the known rigid light displays have other drawbacks. For example, the light sources, circuit elements and power sources are generally, at least in part, external of the rigid support member and therefore subject to damage from impact. Furthermore, even though the light display is rigidly mounted, the power source is generally a separate element independent of the rigid light display mounting piece. In overall evaluation, the rigid and flexible devices presently available are either so large, awkward, complex or expensive and directed to limited specific use as to be substantially impractical.
For example, while a string of lights entwined in bicycle spokes with a separate power source located under a bicycle seat serves the particular purpose for which it was designed, that device is highly impractical for use by an evening jogger.
Accordingly, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide an illuminated device that is small, compact, rigid, easily stored, totally self-contained, lightweight, highly visible, sturdy, and readily adaptable to a wide variety of visual location applications such as walkers and joggers, bicycles, automobiles and other motorized vehicles, pathways, obstacles and a virtually unlimited assortment of other applications.